Excerpts and summary of April 22, 2007 Oregonian article [1].

Fueled by Measure 11, Oregon will spend more on prisons than community colleges and universities. The Department of Corrections and Oregon Youth Authority budget is projected to grow 19 percent in the next two years, to $1.66 billion, under Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget -- $174 million more than what Kulongoski proposes to spend on universities and colleges.

Many experts agree that we need to invest more in alcohol and drug treatment programs rather than our continued prison expansion. Joseph O'Leary, Kulongoski's senior adviser on public safety estimates 75 percent to 80 percent of Oregon inmates need alcohol and drug treatment.

In a report last year commissioned by the Legislature, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy concluded that expansion of proven treatment and prevention programs would reduce the need for new prison beds. Steve Aos, associate director of the institute, estimates such programs would save taxpayers as much as $2.6 billion in prison construction and operations between now and 2030.

Others would go beyond expanding treatment programs. David Rogers, executive director of the Partnership for Safety and Justice, recommends that lawmakers increase the amount of time inmates can earn off their sentences beyond the existing 20 percent cap and extend a modest "earned time" benefit to Measure 11 inmates, who now aren't eligible for that benefit.

While statistics show a drop in crime in Oregon, the decline cannot so easily be linked to Measure 11. In a 2004 study, Judith A. Greene, an analyst at Justice Strategies in New York, compared what happened in Oregon and New York from 1995 to 2002. Both states experienced a sharp reduction in violent crime. But New York, unlike Oregon, also cut its incarceration rate. More effective policing tactics instituted under then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are widely credited with the crime reduction.

The drop in Oregon's violent crime rate during the 1990s cannot be attributed primarily to Measure 11, Greene said in the report. The effect of the longer sentences would not be felt until years later, after inmates remained in prison beyond their likely release date under the old sentencing system.

"Measure 11 has cost Oregon an enormous amount of money," Greene said in an interview. "Here in New York, we're getting equal or better results, and we're saving money. If it were true that incarceration was the cause in Oregon and better policing was the cause in New York, you'd certainly choose better policing. You would choose the one that costs less."

Click here to read the full Oregonian article [2].